Firefox 3.1 Alpha Launched

Code named "Shiretoko", Firefox 3.1 has been launched in an Alpha state following a short delay due to a bug in the OSX-compatible version. Among the features we can expect to see in 3.1 are improved address bar functionality and changes to the tab switching interface, including adding thumbnails of currently open tabs. Also, Firefox 3.1 will be the first Mozilla browser to feature Netscape's Gecko 1.9.1 engine, which reads and renders Internet content to the browser, and also renders the browser's UI. The Firefox 3.1 Alpha is available for download here, and has a projected final release date sometime in late 2008 or early 2009.